Artificial Intelligence and Employee Motivation: A Desk-based Empirical Review

Artificial Intelligence, commonly referred to in abbreviation as ‘AI’, is rapidly gaining popularity in the workplace today. The use of AI may be a source of motivation to the employees, or lack of it for various reasons. This empirical study sought to find out how Artificial Intelligence (AI) influences employee motivation at the workplace. Through analysis of various journals, this desk review examined system accuracy, task automation and trust in AI and how these affect employee motivation as the independent variables in the study. To explain motivation as influenced by AI, this review considered enjoyment of work, work involvement and goal achievement as the indicators for motivation which were the independent variables for the study. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and the Hertzberg Two Factor Theory were used to explain the variables in the study. The desk review revealed that even though there are positive benefits derived from the use of AI, there are a number of issues that have been left unfulfilled by the adoption of the systems at the workplace, some which affect employee motivation. Finally, the review made several recommendations for practice and future research in the area of AI with relation of employee motivation based on the research gaps identified.